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The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Heart of the Nation: Jewish Values in the Fiction of Norman Mailer: Difference between revisions
The Mailer Review/Volume 2, 2008/The Heart of the Nation: Jewish Values in the Fiction of Norman Mailer (view source)
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Just as fights between the God and Devil belong to an earlier time frame, Mailer’s Jewishness similarly echoes a more ancient time when religion was seen in a purer form. Mailer’s Jewish identity emerges not so much from obedience to the Law, the letter of the Torah, but from the spiritual underpinnings—the implications and intent of those laws— that go to the core of Judaism. There are three basic ideas in Judaism that play a prominent role in his ''oeuvre'': 1. The concept of mitzvah; 2. the emphasis on the here and now; and 3. the prophet’s role in society. These themes are as prominent, in one form or another, in his last novel, ''The Castle in the Forest'', as they were in his first, ''[[The Naked and the Dead]]''. | Just as fights between the God and Devil belong to an earlier time frame, Mailer’s Jewishness similarly echoes a more ancient time when religion was seen in a purer form. Mailer’s Jewish identity emerges not so much from obedience to the Law, the letter of the Torah, but from the spiritual underpinnings—the implications and intent of those laws— that go to the core of Judaism. There are three basic ideas in Judaism that play a prominent role in his ''oeuvre'': 1. The concept of mitzvah; 2. the emphasis on the here and now; and 3. the prophet’s role in society. These themes are as prominent, in one form or another, in his last novel, ''The Castle in the Forest'', as they were in his first, ''[[The Naked and the Dead]]''. | ||
''Mitzvah'' is usually interpreted or translated as “commandment,” as in thou shalt or shalt not do x. In colloquial Hebrew as in Yiddish, to do a mitzvah is to do a good deed or a favor, but Mailer’s notion of mitzvah finds a clear expression in the writings of the philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel who sees mitzvah as a holy action, a deed that reveals and transforms a person: | ''Mitzvah'' is usually interpreted or translated as “commandment,” as in thou shalt or shalt not do x. In colloquial Hebrew as in Yiddish, to do a mitzvah is to do a good deed or a favor, but Mailer’s notion of mitzvah finds a clear expression in the writings of the philosopher [[w:Abraham Joshua Heschel|Abraham Joshua Heschel]] who sees mitzvah as a holy action, a deed that reveals and transforms a person: | ||
<blockquote>In every act we perform we assume that the world is meaningful. Life would come to naught if we acted as if there were no ultimate meaning.... Jewish observance ... consists of acts performed by the body in a clearly defined and tangible manner ... of the right intentions and of putting the right intention into action. Both the body and soul must participate in carrying out a ritual, a law, an imperative, a mitzvah.{{sfn|Heschel|1956|p=307}}</blockquote> | <blockquote>In every act we perform we assume that the world is meaningful. Life would come to naught if we acted as if there were no ultimate meaning.... Jewish observance ... consists of acts performed by the body in a clearly defined and tangible manner ... of the right intentions and of putting the right intention into action. Both the body and soul must participate in carrying out a ritual, a law, an imperative, a mitzvah.{{sfn|Heschel|1956|p=307}}</blockquote> | ||